Thursday, August 11, 2016

Bonddad's Thursday Linkfest

Productivity growth was negative for the third consecutive quarter, defying economists' expectations for a pick-up of 0.5 percent.

Meanwhile, the National Federation of Independent Business reported that the share of employers who say they're having trouble filling job openings remains relatively high.

Like anything else, the cost of labor gets higher as it gets more scarce. This dynamic should incent businesses to start spending more on capital, rather than continuing to bid up wages, in order to boost production. Capital deepening, in turn, is a key driver of productivity: when workers have more/better/newer equipment, they're generally able to produce more output per hour.

The amount of new money raised by exchange traded funds exposed to global stock markets has dropped 85 per cent in the first half of 2016, in a rare sign of pressure on the passive investment industry.

Equity ETFs that track an index attracted a net $15bn from investors in the first half of this year, a significant decline on the $102bn invested over the same period in 2015, according to ETFGI, the data provider.

Investors turned their backs on equity ETFs because of volatile trading conditions in January and February, followed by concerns about the impact of the UK’s vote on EU membership, according to Ben Seager-Scott, director of investment strategy at Tilney Bestinvest, the wealth manager.